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7 Ways MLB Postseason Coverage is Terrible

The playoffs in
Major League Baseball are the most unique in all of sports. With the exception
of overtime playoff hockey, no sports changes as dramatically in the
postseason.

Think back to the
AL Wild Card and how the Royals battled back from 7-3 down. Almost everything
that happened in that game from the 7th inning on could only happen in the
postseason. It's absolutely incredible and terrifying at the same time,
depending on your rooting allegiance.

Simply put,
baseball in October is the best. That's why I watch. That's why many people
watch. That's why the
game is perfect.

Unfortunately,
everything surrounding the sport in October is not. While I've made my displeasure
about the second Wild Card known, that pales in comparison to how poorly the
sport is covered and televised in October.

It appears Bud
Selig and company went out of their way to provide the worst television product
possible. Here's why:

1) Ernie Johnson: Horrible Baseball
Announcer

Every criticism
of Johnson has to be prefaced with, "But I love him on Inside the
NBA." And I do. And we all do. But he is an atrocious baseball announcer.
His performance during the AL Wild Card game was one
of the worst I can ever remember. On Tuesday night, an all-time classic
unfolded and Johnson put forth less emotion than I hear from the Nats
announcers in March. Frankly, it was an insult.

On Thursday
night, Johnson continued his reign of indifference when the first pitch thrown
by a Royals pitcher was blasted to centerfield for what appeared to be a
leadoff home run until Lorenzo Cain made a mind-blowing, home-run-robbing catch.
It was the stuff October legends are made of. Johnson treated it like a routine
pop fly in August.

It is inexcusable
that a horrible, part-time announcer is calling the biggest games of the year.
There are about 30 everyday announcers who would make a better choice. Couldn’t
NBC loan them Bob Costas for a couple weeks?

2) TBS should not be involved

TBS airs 13 games
during the regular season. It will air up to 18 games in October. You see the
disconnect here? It reminds me of the college football coverage fiasco when Fox
aired the BCS for four years before it aired any regular season games. Fox gave
us endless band shots, random announcer pairings and Thom Brennaman verbally
spinning sonnets for Tim Tebow.

TBS has been
awful. During the AL Wild Card, they lacked correct camera angles. They produced
a brutal spot where George Brett tried to read a promo. The aforementioned
Ernie Johnson is paired with Cal Ripken, who talks like a guy who has never
played baseball before in his life. Ron Darling – sterling in the regular
season – is reduced to bystander in a three-man booth that instantly contends
for worst announce crew in baseball history.

MLB is the only
sport where a part-time partner covers the biggest games. In the NBA, TNT and
ESPN cover the sport during the season and air the playoffs. In the NHL, NBCSN
does everything. In college football, ESPN carries the torch from beginning to
end. It's not rocket science. MLB chased the money. We can all agree
ESPN and Fox should be covering the playoffs. As evident by the NL Wild Card
coverage: ESPN knows what it's doing and TBS does not.

3) Airing games exclusively on the MLB
Network

The Washington
Nationals will play a playoff game on a network that is not available in every
DC area home, or even close to every DC area home. It is a disgrace.
The MLB Network should not have exclusive coverage for a playoff game when its
penetration pales in comparison to local sports networks in this city and
national sports networks in this country.

MLB isn't alone
as the NHL Network and the NBA Network both air playoff games. The huge,
monstrous difference is that the latter two leagues share coverage in local
markets. That is not the case in DC. It is wrong and should not be allowed to
happen.

4) Airing games during weekday afternoons

I was rooting for
the Giants on Wednesday night. It wasn't because they would be a better matchup
for the Nationals. It was because a Giants win meant Game 1 would start at 3 pm
Friday instead of noon Friday. Why on Earth a baseball playoff game is starting
at noon on a work day is beyond anything I can imagine.

You want to grow
the sport of baseball by playing games when everyone is at work or at school?
How is that a good idea?

There is a bizarre romanticism and fascination with World Series games being played in the
day 60 years ago. Ken Burns' Baseball
documentary gave us glowing memories of school kids sneaking out to listen to
the game on radio. While this is undoubtedly a part of Americana, things have
changed. For one, stadiums have lights. For two, we have televisions. For
three, baseball is 18 miles behind football in popularity and should do
anything it can to grow the audience.

Do you think Fox
and TBS would rather air a game at noon on Friday or 7 pm on Friday? There is
only one important sporting event that is allowed to take place at noon on
non-holiday Friday and it's the NCAA Tournament.

5) Sacrificing viewers to build Fox Sports
1

So far, Fox
Sports 1 has been a total
and complete disaster when it comes to ratings. I say that because no one
is watching. Their original shows have all bombed and/or been canceled. Their
big gamble on Big East basketball led to viewing audiences in
the five digits. They wanted to compete with ESPN but lag behind
ESPN2...and NBCSN.

In attempt to
build the network, Fox Sports 1 paid a metric ton of money for playoff
baseball. It was recently reported Fox is unleashing its biggest sportsmarketing push ever to tell people where to watch the games. Do I need to
explain why that's a bad idea for your sport's biggest games? I haven’t see
ESPN running ads telling me what channel to watch LeBron in the Eastern
Conference Finals.

The only
corollary is the NHL and NBCSN
using each other but with one not-so-slight difference: the NHL was coming back
from a lost season and desperate for coverage. MLB is not desperate for
coverage. Again, they chased the money and their audiences are going to be way
down this year.

6) Game times are not set in advance

This is a growing
trend in sports where game times are not announced in advance. Usually, the
times are announced at least a week out. For the NBA and NHL playoffs, game
times can come out a day or two prior, but it's usually a difference between 7
pm or 7:30 pm, which doesn't affect plans.

Baseball is not
like that at all. Game 1 for the Nats could have been at noon or 3 pm. Game 4
could be at 7 or 10, while Game 5 at 5 or 8. It's ridiculous for people trying
to attend these games and even worse for people trying to watch these games.

I know the Nats
are playing Friday afternoon at 3 pm on Fox Sports 1. According to my Comcast
guide, Fox Sports 1 is airing "TO BE ANNOUNCED" at 3 pm.

7) Way too many graphics

Baseball is the
simplest sport on Earth and why it's so great. You get 3 strikes. You get 3
outs. There are four bases. Go score runs.

However, sports
coverage in 2014 is never satisfied with just showing you what you tuned in
for, which is the actual game. No, TBS and Fox unleash a mountain of graphics
overlaid on live actions and replays when all you need is the little score box
with particulars.

There have been
two great inventions in sport television in the past 20 years: the score box
and the first-down line in football. Nothing else has added to coverage.

I want you to
remember that when TBS shows you that the shortstop is playing where a
shortstop traditionally plays as Ernie Johnson monotonously throws it to an
interview with a distracted athlete in the stands.

Comments

My thoughts exactly. TBS is woefully ill-equipped for baseball coverage, let alone the post season. From the terrible or non existence replays (and terrible camera angles, as the writer pointed out), to the disjointed syntax, the boring analyzation, the pointless anecdotes, where you don't learn anything of value, and the juvenile repetitious commentary, all roiled up in the most least suitated and unharmonic voices